


i love you but goddamnit you have a problem

by extracynical



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Charles doesn't think so, Charles has a disney obsession, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, Erik is a Big Dorkface, Erik loves Charles nonetheless, Erik thinks it's getting out of hand, M/M, YES CHARLES IS A DISNEY-TRASH, it probably is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7417474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extracynical/pseuds/extracynical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“What the fuck is that?” Erik drops his messenger bag on the floor.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA...” Charles sings at the top of his lungs as he raises a white kitten in the air, right in front of Erik.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“CHARLES!”</i>
</p><p>or in which Charles is a Disney-trash mess who doesn't like to admit that he has a problem but Erik still loves and chooses him anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i love you but goddamnit you have a problem

**Author's Note:**

> hello guys! i'm back with another cherik fic. damn, this one took me awhile. hope you guys like it though! i had fun writing this one :)
> 
> again, this is un-beta'd so i'm sorry for all the grammatical errors. anyway, hope you enjoy reading! love you guys! <3
> 
> [tumblr](http://xtracynical.tumblr.com)

**Erik meets Charles for the first time**

It’s been a stressful day for Erik.

His coffee maker exploded and almost lit his whole fucking kitchen on fire, he lost his favorite turtleneck (he shed a tear or two but no one needs to know that), and his neighbor’s cat decided it would be a great idea to piss in front of his flat. And the fact that his professor rejected his proposed thesis project title (again) is making him want to bang his head on the nearest wall.

Long story short, he’s having the worst day of his life.

Also, he has a term paper that’s due tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock.

It’s already 1 in the morning.

Thank fucking god for their 24/7 university library. He left his flat because the person living above him thought it was _okay_ to have loud, obnoxious sex in the middle of the night. At least here, he can do his paper without wanting to stab himself in the face. So he walks inside the library and almost fist pumps when he finds that it’s empty.

Erik makes his way towards his usual spot in the library, after nodding to the kind-lady-in-her-mid-40’s that always accommodates him when he can’t find the book he was looking for, his laptop tucked under his arm.

He settles down and opens his laptop. How he’s gonna finish this paper before sunrise, he doesn’t know. But he will do it. He  _needs_ to do it.

Erik is already on the 2nd page of his term paper when he hears it.

A faint whimper.

He looks up from his laptop, scanning the room. He looks to his left, then to his right, checking if someone came in earlier when he wasn’t paying attention. No one. There’s no one here expect him and the librarian, who’s almost 20 meters away from him. So there’s no way it’s the librarian. There’s no freaking way.

If that was a fucking ghost he just heard, he’s gonna flip his shit. He doesn’t need this voodoo shenanigans right now. He has a term paper he needs to finish.

Erik shakes his head before cracking his knuckles, getting back on his term paper. Before he can even type a word, he hears it again.

But now, the whimper is accompanied with a sniff.

“Okay, that’s it.” Erik grits his teeth before standing up from his seat.

He looks around, scans the room one last time, making sure that his ears are not playing tricks on him right now. He swears to god if this is-

Oh. There it is again. This time though, he hears it a little bit clearer. And he’s sure now that it’s coming from behind the small rack of books beside his table. So he does what a normal person would do, he stands up and tries to figure out who’s making the damn noise. He walks carefully, trying not to make any sound, and makes his way towards the table behind the rack and-

Oh.

There’s a boy sitting all alone on the table with his laptop, completely wrapped in a blue blanket, crying his eyes out.

Well that’s not what Erik was expecting.

“Uh,” Erik scratches the back of his neck. He knows that he should probably leave the guy alone because what this guy is crying about is none of his business. But he looks like he’s going through some tough shit, and if Erik-

“Oh.” The boy looks up, his eyes growing wide. He takes the blanket off of him and oh wow- He’s very pretty. Erik doesn’t know how to react to that. “Oh my god, am I crying out loud? I’m so sorry.”

Pretty Boy runs his hand through his hair, before rubbing his eyes. Erik just stands there, completely still.

“I, uh, you’re-” Erik stutters. Damn it.

“I thought I was alone here. I’m sorry if I disturbed you…” Pretty Boy apologizes.

Erik shakes his head. “Oh, it’s okay. I thought I was alone too,” Erik chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his neck. “Then all of a sudden I heard someone crying. I thought- I don’t know.”

Pretty Boy stands up from his chair and makes his way in front of Erik, and oh boy, his eyes are so blue. Erik is blown away..

“I’m really sorry for disturbing you. This is kind of embarrassing, really. I look like a mess.” He says, chuckling. Erik just smiles at him. He feels like his brain is melting away right now.

“If you don’t mind me asking...” Erik clears his throat before continuing. “Why are you crying? Is there a problem?”

He can’t help but lean forward and take a peek on the laptop and oh my god-

“Oh god. This is _so_ embarrassing...”

“Is that- Wait... Are you watching-”

“Yeah. I’m watching Toy Story 2 and you just caught me crying because of it. I know.” Pretty Boy laughs nervously. “I told you, this is embarrassing.”

Erik tries to stifle his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand. “We’ve all been there...”

Pretty Boy narrows his eyes at him before cracking up. “Can you blame me? I’m already on Jessie’s back story. The poor cow girl...”

Erik nods, still laughing. He knows that scene. That scene fucked him up when he was a child.

“Why are you even watching that here?” Erik asks, curiosity getting the best of him. “And why do you have a blanket with you?”

“My flat is filled with fumes right now from all the oil paint that I used to finish my painting earlier. I can’t really work on my paper there right now, so I went here to finish it. I was just taking a break when you found me here... Also, I get cold easily. That’s what the blanket is for. I’m not homeless, I swear.” He says chuckling lightly, causing Erik to mentally kick himself because this guy is so cute, it’s hurting his heart.

“Ah... ” Erik nods. “So you’re an art student?”

“Yeah.” He says, smiling. Erik notices a streak of paint on the boy’s neck. An art student indeed. “And you? What’s your major? Oh- I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Charles Xavier. Nice to meet you.”

Charles... It fits him.

“I’m Erik Lehnsherr.” Erik introduces himself, shaking Charles’ hand. “Architecture student.”

“Oooohhh. Architecture... I almost enrolled for that course.” Charles says calmly.

“Why didn’t you?” Erik cocks his head.

“Kind of figured I’m not really gonna be good with all the technical stuff.” Charles shrugs, smiling shyly. “I’m more of a painter than an architect.”

“Understandable... Now that you’ve mentioned it. I’m quite intrigued with your paintings now.” Erik says suggestively, causing Charles’ eyes to light up. Jesus.

“I can show them to you some time.” Charles says, and Erik can see him slightly getting excited. “If you’re not busy...”

“That’s a great idea... I can, uh, I don’t know- I can text you when I’m free.” Erik looks down on his feet, feeling a little bit flustered. ' _G_ _od, Erik. Get a fucking grip.’_ Erik thinks to himself.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s- Yeah. Uhm, wait. I’ll write down my number.” Charles says frantically before walking to get his bag from the floor. He places the bag on the table before pulling out a notebook. Erik notices as Charles tries to find a blank piece of paper, that it’s like a sketchbook. And wow, he really is an artist...

Charles peels a piece of paper from the notebook, grabbing the pen on the table before scribbling down his number.

“Here.” Charles hands him the paper, smiling at him.

“Thanks... I’ll just text you.” Erik smiles back. He wants to stay and chat with him a little bit more but-

Oh shit. Wait. His term paper.

“Uh.” Erik clears his throat. “I should probably, uh, I still have to finish my term paper. I should probably go.”

“Oh yeah. Sure. Uhm. I’m really sorry for scaring you earlier.” Charles says, his cheeks turning pink.

“You didn’t scare me.” Erik says defensively.

“Yeah… _Sure._ ” Charles says as he smiles playfully at him. Honestly.

“I wasn’t scared okay…” Erik argues, as the other boy continues to smile at him.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Charles!” Erik can’t believe this. He just met the guy and he’s here, bantering with him already. God. He’s a goner.

“Alright, alright.” Charles laughs for a moment. “Go and finish your term paper already.”

“I will. But please… Don’t cry again.” Erik says smugly. Charles scoffs at him before shooing him away back to his table. “I’ll talk to you soon?”

Charles smiles at him before nodding. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you soon.”

**Erik realizes a thing or two about Charles**

“Stop lying, Erik.”

“I’m not lying!” Erik says defensively as he pats Charles’ shoulder, letting his hand lingers there for awhile. “It looks really good, Charles. Really.”

“Ugh. Are you sure?” Charles looks at him, pouting. God, please. This is not the time.

“Yes, Charles. It’s beautiful.” _‘You’re beautiful.’_ Erik thinks.

“Okay, I’m choosing to trust your judgement today... Now, shoo! Go away.” Charles shoves him back towards his drafting table, smiling as he scrunches up his nose.

“This is my flat, Charles...” Erik shakes his head, smiling fondly at Charles.

“I know. I’m not stupid. I’m just- I’m stressed, okay? I’m sorry... But thanks for letting me paint here.” Charles mumbles. “Again.”

“My pleasure...” He smiles smugly at Charles, causing the other boy to stick out his tongue at him. He’s so cute. Erik wants to explode.

They’ve been friends for a month, and they already managed to create a system. How they actually managed to maintain the friendship? Erik doesn’t know.

But during Thursday's, Erik goes to Charles’ apartment and he sometimes bring some of his other projects that doesn’t require him to use a drafting table so he can do them there while he waits for Charles to finish working on his paintings. And during Saturday's, Charles goes to Erik’s apartment to accompany him while he works on his architectural projects. Erik didn’t know that having someone there while he drafts would make any difference. But it did. And he likes it. He likes having Charles around.

They’ve been friends for a month, and how Erik manages to restrain himself from jumping on his _friend_ every single day, without fail _,_ is really impressive. Learning and knowing more about Charles and his life is just... Jesus Christ. He’s helpless. He’s slowly falling in love and it’s killing him because Charles...

Charles is out of his league.

Charles is stunningly gorgeous, and talented, and intelligent. And Erik looks like a mass murderer that didn’t have a week’s worth of sleep. He has no chance.

“ _Think you own whatever land you land on... The earth is just a dead thing you can claim..._ ”

Erik almost drops his pencil.

He looks up from his drafting table and watches the other boy lose himself in his own art and is Charles-

Is Charles...singing?

“ _You think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you…”_

Erik is speechless.

 _"But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew..._ ”

Erik just stares at the other boy, completely enthralled.

This is the first time Erik has heard him sing. This is also the first time he’s actually watching him paint. Erik never watches Charles while he’s painting simply because he feels like he’s watching something private, something really personal. Charles is completely different when he’s in his element. Erik doesn’t want to take that away from him. Painting is his and his alone. Erik doesn’t want to interfere.

The other boy is still singing quietly, his hand carefully gripping on his paintbrush, his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrates while he paints on his canvas.

“ _Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grins."_

Erik doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry. Of all the songs in the world, and he picks this.

“ _C_ _an you sing with all the voices of the mountain? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?_ ” Charles keeps singing to himself quietly, completely unaware that Erik is watching him intently.

Erik realizes, in this very moment, that he is completely and utterly in love with Charles. And that Charles is a mess...

“ _C_ _an you paint with all the colors of the wind?_ ”

A Disney-trash mess.

**Charles tries to motivate Erik**

Erik has a week left until his thesis defense and he is panicking.

Not the normal panic that other people experience when they feel like something’s gonna go wrong.

No.

He is Panicking with a capital P.

He’s panicking about the stress that he’s gonna have to go through the moment he panics in front of the jurors during his defense.  Does that makes sense? Probably not. But he’s _panicking_ and his site development plan and aerial perspective are still laying on his drafting table, staring at him, probably screaming “JUST BE DONE WITH IT LEHNSHERR STOP NEGLECTING US”.

Everything is a fucking mess and he wants to gouge his eyes out.

“Erik… You need to relax.” Charles says calmly while he rubs Erik’s temples, soothingly.

“I can’t.” Erik chokes out. Oh god. Is he gonna start crying? Damn it. “I can’t _relax,_ Charles. I’m gonna fucking shit myself in front of the jurors and fuck- I don’t know. I should probably-”

“Shut up.” Charles mutters as his fingers start making their way to Erik’s head, softly massaging Erik’s scalp. Erik quietly hums in pleasure, even though his brain is running a million miles per minute.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore. I should probably drop out.” Erik admits in defeat, causing Charles to stop massaging his head.

“No. You can do this.” Charles says firmly, grabbing Erik’s shoulder so they’re facing each other. “You just need to clear your head first. After that, you can dive into it and do your thing again.”

“You’re only saying that because _you’re_ done with your finals and you’re practically just waiting for your graduation and your diploma…” Erik blurts out, his voice hoarse. “I’m still stuck here, Charles. I’m still stuck with my thesis and I don’t know if I-”

“Erik… Erik!” Charles exclaims, causing Erik to stop his ranting. “You need to calm down.”

“I- I can’t.” Erik falters.

“Yes, you can.” The other boy assures him.

Honestly though, he feels like he’s gonna start crying. The stress is really getting to him, and he’s just glad that Charles is here to anchor him down.

“Come here…” Charles whispers, grabbing Erik’s hands, helping him stand up from his seat. “Let’s hug it out. Come on.”

“I-” Before Erik can even say anything, Charles is already wrapping his arms around his waist. Erik automatically wraps his arms around Charles’ shoulder in return.

Charles feels so nice in his arms. He wishes he can do this more often.

“I’m just gonna hug the stress out of you, yeah?” Charles mumbles, his cheeks resting on Erik’s shoulder blade. Erik just nods and hums in response, savoring the feeling of Charles wrapped around him.

They just stay there for awhile, just inhaling each other’s scent and feeling each other’s heartbeats. Erik’s mind is slowly getting its shit together, thank god for that. At least now, Erik doesn’t feel like he’s gonna throw up from feeling too much.

Charles pulls away first, but his arms are still wrapped around Erik’s waist.

“Did that help?” the boy asks. Erik just nods before he grins at him.

“I feel a little bit better now… I still feel stressed out but not as _stressed out_ as earlier.“ Erik admits, before reaching out to push the hair away from Charles’ face, tucking it behind his ear. “Thank you, Charles.”

Charles smiles at him softly, wrapping his arms around him a little bit tighter, causing Erik’s breath to hitch. Charles is so close, _so fucking close_ , he can practically count the boy’s freckles so easily. He can literally feel his heart clenching inside his chest, goddamnit.

“Now that you feel a little bit better, go work your magic. You can do it, okay? I believe in you.” Charles encourages, before letting go of him. “I’ll be here, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.” Erik nods, before sitting on his chair again. Looking at his plan and perspective with a clearer mind helps him focus a little bit. “You’re the best, you know that right? I honestly don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’d probably be dead by now if not for me.” Charles teases. ‘ _I_ _t’s kinda true though._ ’ Erik thinks to himself.

“I hate you.” Erik narrows his eyes at him, causing Charles to pinch his nose, directing his head back to the table.

“You’ve been saying that to me ever since we met 6 months ago, Erik. I don’t think you really mean that.”

“I don’t.”

“I know.” Charles nods his head before rubbing his back. “Now, get back to work… Wait, where did you put your speakers again? It wasn’t on the table near the TV earlier when I looked for it.”

“It’s in my room.” Erik says, mindlessly as he starts working on his aerial perspective.

After a few moments, Erik instantly regrets telling Charles where his goddamn speakers were.

“ _Let’s get down to business to defeat the huns…”_

“Charles!” Erik grunts, dropping his pencil on his table. Oh my god. This is a mistake.

“What? It’s motivational. Go do your thing. It’ll help, I promise!” Charles says, as he finishes setting up the speaker near the TV.

“ _Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons? You're the saddest bunch I ever met. But you can bet before we're through…_ ”

Bloody fucking Mulan. Erik is done.

“You’re such a Disney-trash, Charles! Oh my god. You need counseling.” Erik shakes his head. Charles sits on his couch, looking at him like he’s a lunatic. Honestly.

“ _Mister, I'll make a man out of you._ ”

“I’m not a Disney-trash. I just like Disney, okay? There's nothing wrong with it.” Charles defends himself.

“Last time, you blasted ‘A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes’ to motivate me as I work on my floor plans…”

“So?”

“Your Disney obsession is getting way out of hand. You. Have. A. Problem.” Erik says firmly. He sees Charles makes his way to him, pulling up a chair so he can sit next to him.

“Listen, it’s not an obsession…” Charles points a finger at Erik. Erik just laughs at him, before swiftly leaning in and biting his pointed finger.

“Erik!” Charles exclaims, throwing daggers at Erik’s direction.

“ _(Be a man) You must be swift as a coursing river. (Be a man) With all the force of a great typhoon._ ”

Erik stands up from his chair, carefully backing away because he knows the glint in Charles’ eyes… He’s gonna be up to no good.

“ _(Be a man) With all the strength of a raging fire. Mysterious as the dark side of the moon._ ”

“Run.” Charles announces firmly.

Erik always does what he’s told.

\---

In the end, the song helped because he actually, _actually_ finished everything before the sun rises the next day…

He looks at his work, before taking a glance at Charles who’s currently sleeping on his couch. He told him that he should sleep in his room, but the other boy insisted that he wanted to be there when he finished everything.

Erik smiles to himself before making his way to Charles. He kneels down on the floor, so he can watch (not in a creepy way oh god no) Charles sleep better. Okay, maybe this is kinda creepy, but can you blame Erik? Charles is beautiful. And right now, as Erik carefully brushes away the hair away from the other boy’s face, he realizes how youthful and peaceful he looks when he’s sleeping.

“I’m gonna ask you out…” Erik whispers to himself. “I’m gonna ask you out after I passed my thesis defense. I swear to god, I’m gonna do it.”

Erik runs his fingers through his hair before standing up. He really needs to sleep now. He still needs to browse through his floor plans and structural plans before-

“You better pass your thesis then.” Charles mumbles before smiling, not even bothering to open up his eyes.

Erik just stands there, completely dumbfounded.

“I-”

“I’ll be waiting, Erik.”

**Erik finally asks Charles out**

“Oh, it’s not working right now dear.”

Erik whips his head to his right, seeing a lady in her mid 50’s smiling politely at him.

“It’s- It’s not working?” Erik tilts his head.

“I’m sorry darling but you’re gonna have to use the stairs.” The lady informs him.

Erik doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry in front of the lady. “But… He’s on the 5th floor…”

“Oh dear…” The lady looks at him pitifully.

Godfuckingdamnit.

Charles’ apartment building’s elevator is not working. Of all the fucking days, it decided to _not work_ right now. Fucking wow.

The universe is trying to conspire against him.

Erik thanks the lady before making his way to the stairs.

“You can do this, Lehnsherr. Come on.” Erik takes a deep breath before running upstairs.

He reaches the 5th floor and he can feel his lungs burning inside his chest. His heart feels like it’s gonna come out of his fucking mouth, Jesus Christ. He takes a deep breath before making his way to Charles’ flat.

He tries to catch his breath before running his fingers through his hair. He hopes he looks presentable enough. God. He hopes so.

He counts to three before knocking on the door and not even 5 seconds in, Charles is already opening the door.

“I passed.” Erik blurts out, his breathing still irregular. “I passed my thesis.”

Erik opens his bag and pulls out his folder containing all his papers. He detaches his grading sheet from his defense earlier. He shoves it to Charles who’s looking more excited than Erik.

“You got a 4.0…” Charles breathes out, reading through Erik’s grading sheet. “You got a 4.0! Oh my god, Erik! This is wonderful!”

“Go on a date with me.” Erik says. He’s got plenty of time to celebrate later, but right now, all he really cares about is asking Charles out on a date. Which he thinks he didn’t do that very smoothly because he sounded like he’s demanding Charles to go on a date with him. He’s a mess oh my go-

“You’re very forward, Mr. Lehnsherr.” Charles says smugly.

“I’ve been crazy about you ever since I saw you crying in the library.” He confesses, which is probably not a good idea but to hell with it.

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.” Charles pouts and stomps his foot, before stepping closer to Erik.

Erik can barely breathe.

“I really like you.” Erik says, his cheeks and ears and neck heating up. “Like a lot.”

“I really like you too.” Charles says, sliding his arms around Erik’s neck. “Like a lot.”

Erik wraps his arms around Charles’ waist before leaning in. Charles moves his head backwards, shaking his head.

“Take me out on a date first.” Charles smirks.

“That’s what these tickets are for.” Erik says, pulling out two movie tickets from his pocket.

“Wait, what movie is-”

“Finding Dory.”

“No. Way.” Charles eyebrows raised comically high. Erik can’t even help the giggle that came out of his mouth. It’s a manly giggle, okay? It’s fucking manly.

“Yes. Way.” Erik says, and before he can even say anything else, Charles grabs his face with his hands before kissing him on both cheeks.

His knees feel weak as fuck.

“What happened to _‘take me out on a date first_ ’?” Erik asks, tilting his head.

“Fuck that.” Charles curses, for the first time ever, before kissing him on the lips.

Erik’s brain might’ve stopped functioning after that.

\---

“Charles…”

“Oh god, did you bring tissues with you?”

“No…” Erik grabs the other boy’s hand, intertwining it with his. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not. I’m crying and we’re not even 15 minutes in.” Charles rubs his eyes with his free hand, before leaning his head on Erik’s shoulder. Erik just squeezes his hand and kisses Charles’ forehead.

“I feel like we’ve come full circle.” Erik jokes, earning him a kick to the shin. “Ow.”

“If you’re gonna laugh at me for crying, you’re not gonna get any tonight.”

Erik shuts his mouth up real quick.

**Erik and Charles moves in together**

“Babe, can you help me with the-” Erik stops dead in his tracks and almost drops his box of books on the floor.

 _“I can show you the world…_ ”

“Get the fuck off our balcony.”

“ _S_ _hining shimmering, splen-_ ”

“I’m gonna kick you out of our new apartment before you can even settle in.” Erik warns, making his way to Charles, still holding his box.

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Charles walks inside their flat, before tiptoeing to plant a soft kiss on Erik’s lips.

“That’s better… Now, come here and help me move in the boxes.” Erik says, dropping the box on the ground.

Charles wraps his arms around Erik’s waist, kissing his neck. “Can we do that later?”

“Charles.” Erik wraps his arms on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “We’re gonna-”

“I can show you _my_ world, you can show me yours…”

“Fucking hell.” Erik grunts. That shit shouldn’t even work on him, but fuck. “I hate you.”

“I love you too, darling.” Charles says before biting down on Erik’s neck.

Erik throws every self-control he has in his system out of the window and shoves Charles against the nearest wall.

\---

“What the fuck is that?” Erik drops his messenger bag on the floor.

“ _NANTS INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA..._ ” Charles sings at the top of his lungs as he raises a white kitten in the air, right in front of Erik.

“CHARLES!”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! let me know what you think! <3 love u xx
> 
> [tumblr](http://xtracynical.tumblr.com)


End file.
